


The Arguement

by GreenNebulae



Series: Hatch [4]
Category: The Big Bang Theory (TV)
Genre: Gen, chicken or the egg, scientist arguing like children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-25 17:55:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15645927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenNebulae/pseuds/GreenNebulae
Summary: “The egg’s first!” Amy shouts.“It’s obviously the chicken!” Sheldon replies.“What are they arguing about?” Howard whispers.“Dinner?” Raj ventures as Leonard shrugs, “breakfast?”





	The Arguement

**Author's Note:**

> I had to

“The egg’s first!” Amy shouts.  
“It’s obviously the chicken!” Sheldon replies. From their spots by the door. Leonard, Howard, and Raj are listening to an argument that has clearly been going on. 

“What are they arguing about?” Howard whispers to Raj outside the door to Leonard’s apartment. They have the takeout, but hearing Sheldon and Amy shouting about chickens and eggs stopped them in their tracks.  
“Dinner?” Raj ventures as Leonard shrugs, “breakfast?”

“Are you completely nuts!” Amy yells through the door. “How in the world is a proto-chicken going to lay a proto-chicken egg and pop out a chicken?”  
“And how would a chicken egg survive without the necessary proteins to protect the chicken in the egg? Ovocledidin-17 needs to be produced by a chicken for the chicken egg to even hatch!” Sheldon yells back.

“Why would they be arguing over chicken proteins?” Leonard asks.

“The evolution of a specific protein doesn’t define the chicken! The chicken is defined when the proto-chicken and proto-rooster combine their genetic code, something you know nothing about!” Howard grins and Raj winces. Leonard bites his lip to keep from laughing.

“Personal insults only imply your argument is weakening!”  
“Oh, please, different avian species have similar proteins and the concept of the eggshell existed since dinosaurs. It doesn’t make it a chicken. Besides at some point some almost-chicken creature produced an egg containing a bird whose genetic makeup, due to some small mutation, was finally fully chicken”

Penny opens her apartment door with her head tilted to the side, like she can’t fully understand what’s happening. Her small smile belayed that she did but she reins it in to ask.  
“Are they arguing over what I think they are arguing over?”

“Darwin himself said the egg came first!”   
“And supercomputer HECToR said the chicken. Which one do you think I’d believe?”  
“I can’t believe you!” Amy says in a voice Penny recognizes from frustrated teachers teaching 50 kids at summer school.

“I’m not sure what they are arguing about, so I couldn’t tell you.” Leonard answers her. She listens to more screaming behind the door and can’t help but feel a little guilty.

“I think it’s my fault.” Penny admits and Howard shifts.  
“Didya ask em what they wanted for breakfast or something?” She levels a glare at Howard before turning to Raj.  
“No, Sheldon was making me breakfast,” She pointedly ignores their looks at that statement, “and I asked him if the chicken or the egg came first. Then I asked Amy when we went shopping. They had different answers.”  
“Oh,” The boys say at once, then they laugh among themselves.  
“That’s a silly argument,” Raj nods,  
“It’s pretty obvious which one came first.” Leonard agrees. Howard doesn’t comment on it. After a moment, an oddly and worryingly quiet moment, Penny decides that it can’t hurt to get more opinions, right?

“So what came first?” Penny asks the boys in front of her. She knows about the genome, she knows about the genetic mixing at conception, so which is it? Who would actually know? Is there a special brand of scientists who only study chickens?

Probably.

As soon as the question leaves her mouth, Raj answers “chicken” as Leonard answers “egg.” Howard says nothing, and both Leonard and Raj’s heads turn towards each other so fast Penny feels like she’s got whiplash. She’s just caused another argument, and maybe they should move this inside before it gets too loud. She can’t believe she’s thinking that, and she can’t believe that this stupid question is rustling everyone’s feathers. Howard answers the unanswerable question before another argument can start.

“There was no first chicken or first egg.” Howard states confidently. Both Leonard and Raj turn to him, but he doesn’t take it back. “One could arbitrarily draw the line of what a chicken means anywhere.” He puts finger quotes around the word chicken and Raj and Leonard both look sheepish enough that Penny believes him. “Chickens aren’t static, and since they evolve over time and are constantly changing, every generation is just a little different.” He waves his hands around. “You can talk about Generation X and Y, or proto chickens and proto roosters, but the ultimate definition or line in the sand of what is a chicken versus what’s not a chicken is a bunch of hand waving and a handful of theorists saying ‘yeah that good enough for me’ and moving on. Chickens now aren’t even what they were when we first started calling them chickens.” He shrugs. “I am an engineer though, and a practical one, so I don’t really care to answer the question for the questions sake. All I need to know,” he smiles “is that the eggs are kosher for my noodle kugel.”

“Did someone say Kugel?” Bernadette yells from downstairs and Howard breaks out into a grin.


End file.
